Monthly Archives: January 2018

Out of 22 students in Scott Jaillette’s daughter’s kindergarten class, only 10 showed up to school one day this week.

“I know the school officials are doing what they can,” the Columbia father of three said. “The flu is very bad this season. But I can’t keep her out of school and protect her from everything. I mean, she’d never go to school.”

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C., (WSAV) — It’s tearing apart families and killing more than 100 people every single day. Experts say our nation is in an opioid crisis and it’s affecting people of all ages right here at home.

Local leaders and experts in the lowcountry met with members of the community to work toward a real, life-saving solution.

COLUMBIA – Flu activity is continuing to increase in the Palmetto state and while it’s unknown when the flu season activity will peak, DHEC is encouraging South Carolinians to protect themselves against the flu.

“The Influenza A strain continues to be the most frequently reported this season in South Carolina and nationally,” said Dr. Tracy Foo, DHEC Immunization Medical Consultant. “When there are high levels of the H3N2 strain circulating, there tends to be more severe illness and a higher number of deaths.”

ROCK HILL – For Eric Bedingfield’s son, one choice led to a battle that would eventually take his life.

York County and South Carolina medical professionals, elected officials and community leaders discussed the rising problem of opioid misuse and abuse during the York County Opioid Summit Thursday at the Magnolia Room in Laurel Creek.

Flu activity is continuing to increase in the Palmetto state and while it’s unknown when the flu season activity will peak, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control is encouraging South Carolinians to protect themselves against the flu.

“The Influenza A strain continues to be the most frequently reported this season in South Carolina and nationally,” Dr. Tracy Foo, DHEC Immunization Medical Consultant, said. “When there are high levels of the H3N2 strain circulating, there tends to be more severe illness and a higher number of deaths.”

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Flu activity is continuing to increase in the Palmetto State and while it’s unknown when the flu season activity will peak, officials with The Department of Health and Environmental Control are encouraging South Carolinians to protect themselves against the flu.

As of Jan. 20, 46 people in South Carolina have died. Individuals over 65 have the highest hospitalization rate and number of deaths, DHEC officials said. About one-third of all laboratory-confirmed influenza cases reported this season are in older adults.

Most of the United States is experiencing widespread and intense influenza activity. Indicators used to track influenza-like-activity are higher than what was seen during the peak of the 2014-2015 season, the most recent season characterized as being of “high” severity. A NIOSH study recently published in the American Journal of Infection Control found that more than 40 percent of health care personnel with influenza-like-illness (ie, fever and cough or sore throat) continued to work while sick during the 2014-2015 influenza season. — From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) NOSH Science Blog

The start of a new year is a perfect opportunity to assess your normal ways of doing business and adopt resolutions that will help you save time, money, or even frustration. Child nutrition program operators can now resolve to do just that with the launch of Food and Nutrition Services’ first mobile application, the Food Buying Guide (FBG) Mobile App.

The FBG Mobile App represents a major step forward in the agency’s commitment to customer service, providing key information at the fingertips of child nutrition program operators so they can serve wholesome, nutritious, and tasty meals to our nation’s children. — From the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) blog

CDC’s Tracking Network connects people with vital information on a variety of health and environmental topics. You can use data and information collected about radon to help determine individual and community risk for radon and inform community interventions. — From the CDC’s Your Health — Your Environment Blog

Public health genomics is a relatively young field concerned with the effective and responsible translation of genomic science into population health benefits. In the past few years, the field has witnessed the emergence of several state public health genomics programs beyond the traditional domain of newborn screening. The field has focused on preventing disease and death from three tier 1 autosomal dominant conditions, collectively affecting more than 2 million people in the United States (Lynch syndrome, hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, and familial hypercholesterolemia). — From the CDC’s Genomics and Health Impact blog

The flu is making its annual presence known – and, as medical professionals warn, that’s nothing to sneeze at. Daniel Island, like many communities across the South Carolina and the nation, is not immune to the impacts of the pesky bug, which can bring fever, fatigue, stomach upset, congestion and other symptoms to those who catch it.

The state health department reported Wednesday that another 22 South Carolinians have died from the flu this season and that hundreds more were recently hospitalized.

Numbers included in the new report offer clear evidence that flu activity has been widespread and rampant across the state this month. And it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

Seventeen of the latest flu-related deaths occurred between Jan. 14 and Jan. 20, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported. Five of those deaths were attributed to prior weeks. Since October, 46 people have died from the flu in this state.

The new year brings a focus on good health and progress. Nowhere is emphasis more important than the home, where so many spend so much of their time.

Your home, however, may be causing you harm and you don’t even know it.

The No. 2 cause of lung cancer in the United States is radon gas. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that radon causes more than 20,000 lung cancer deaths every year. The World Health Organization states that as many as 14 percent of the lung cancer cases in many countries are caused by exposure to radon.